NICHOLAS II, Tsar of Russia. - Born on 19 May 1868, he succeeded Alexander III on 2 Nov. 1894. Gifted with intelligence and culture, he proposed from the very beginning of his reign to work for the prosperity of his country. Unfortunately, he lacked the will and firmness to put his noble intentions into practice.
Of a peaceful disposition, from the day of his coronation (27 May 1896) he set himself the goal of avoiding international conflicts through peaceful means and by means of disarmament. He was, however, forced to endure two bloody wars (that against Japan, 1904-1905, and World War I), both disastrous for Russia. His reign was marked internally by numerous innovations: 1) the stabilization of finances with the adoption of the gold standard; 2) freedom of conscience; 3) the parliamentary system (Imperial Duma) introduced on 30 Oct. 1905; 4) the outline of a far-reaching agrarian reform; 5) compulsory education.
A convinced and fervent Christian, Nicholas planned the reform of laws governing relations with the Vatican, intended to bring great benefits to both parties. He married Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt (Empress Alexandra) and had five children by her. Forced to abdicate on 15 March 1917, Nicholas was arrested together with his family and deported first to Tobolsk in Siberia and then to Ekaterinburg in the Urals, where on 17 July 1918 he was massacred with his entire family by order of the Bolsheviks.
NICHOLAS of Saliceto (*Wydenbosch or Weidenbusch*).
- Cistercian theologian also called *Nicolaus de Berno*, because he was born in Bern, though the year is unknown. He studied the liberal arts and medicine in Paris, became bachelor in 1456, licentiate in 1459, later “magister” and also “doctor medicinae.” In 1461 he was procurator of the German nation in Paris.
Having entered the Cistercian abbey of Frienisberg (canton of Bern) without having understood monastic life, in 1475 he was appointed physician of Bern by the city magistrate, without the consent of his Order, who obtained from the Holy See permission for him to practice medicine and to receive a benefice from the collegiate church of St. Vincent in Bern. In 1481 he was named master of the school of that city, but was forbidden to teach by the abbot general Jean de Cirey, who the following year sent him on various affairs of the Order in Lorraine and Burgundy and finally appointed him abbot of Baumgarten in Alsace. Nicholas is renowned for having procured the first printing of the liturgical books of the Cistercian Order: the Breviary (Basel 1484), the Missal (Strasbourg 1487), and the *Diarium or Diurnale*. In the 15th-16th centuries he was highly esteemed as an ascetical writer for his book of meditations and prayers: *Liber meditationum ac rationum devotarum qui anthidotarius anime dicitur* (Strasbourg 1489, 14 editions up to 1500).